McMurray Wins As NASCAR Steals The Show

Sunday’s AMP Energy 500 was billed as one of the most exciting and heart-pounding races of the season. The promos of the spectacular last-lap crash from April’s race prepped those watching at home for a race full of intense action. However, Sunday’s race was one of the strangest events in recent memory at the 2.66-mile superspeedway.

Prior to the event, NASCAR announced it would implement a smaller restrictor plate to slow down the cars in an effort to ensure safer racing. Aggressive bump-drafting throughout Friday’s practice led NASCAR to park Michael Waltrip before the end of the session. During the pre-race drivers’ meeting, NASCAR president Mike Helton told the teams that if any bump-drafting occurred in the corners, the black flag would be thrown. "If you win the race by drafting through Turn 1 and 2 with help, then you’re going to have a problem," Helton said.

This rule change upset drivers and fans alike. A number of teams were forced to reexamine their race strategies. Dale Earnhardt Jr. told ABC/ESPN’s Dale Jarrett during the pre-race show the new rule was like telling the NFL to go from tackle football to two-hand touch. Also unhappy with NASCAR’s decision, Denny Hamlin said his team had set its car up specifically to push in the draft. To top it all off, Jimmie Johnson led the field to the green.

After Paul Menard brought out an early caution that also caught up Joe Nemechek, the drivers sent a message to NASCAR. Instead of dicing it up two- and three-wide, the field fell in line and drove around the top of the track single-file. Lap after lap the field snaked around as the fans sat and watched and those at home checked football scores. Tony Stewart even radioed his crew asking them to tell him something interesting so he could stay awake.

The racing eventually heated up late. A mistimed bump-draft between Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart left the No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet on its roof. Stewart caught the outside wall as Newman shot down the track into Kevin Harvick. Newman’s car spun around with its rear wheels lifting into the air. The car cart-wheeled upside down onto the hood of Harvick’s car, slid up the banking into the wall and then flipped again, landing on its roof in the grass. Elliott Sadler and Marcos Ambrose also were caught up in the incident. The safety crew had to cut the roof off the car to get Newman out.

One of the biggest critics of NASCAR’s rule package, Newman has been vocal about NASCAR keeping cars on the ground. After Sunday’s wild ride, his criticism only grew louder.

“The more rules, the more NASCAR is telling us how to drive the race cars, the less we can race and the less we can put on a show for the fans,” Newman said. “As I said, I will go back in the day, Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, all those guys, they respected each other. In the end there were some big accidents, but geez, we don't need the cars getting upside down like this. This is ridiculous.”

Despite having just three laps to go once the race restarted, Newman was not the last car to land on its roof. Coming to get the white flag, April winner Brad Keselowski got into the back of Kurt Busch going into the tri-oval. The No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge turned down across the pack causing the second big crash of the day. Mark Martin wound up rolling the No. 5 Chevrolet in the multi-car crash.

Jamie McMurray scored the win, but the bigger story seemed to be NASCAR’s intrusion on the track, and how the drivers reacted. Single-file racing has been a feature of races at Talladega in the past, but Sunday’s seemed much more deliberate. Following the race, opinions differed on how the new rules changed the game.

“It was just kind of a terrible race today in general,” David Ragan said. “There was a lot of single-file racing. I know it’s exciting there at the end, but what happens is NASCAR slows these cars down. They’re too easy to drive and everyone just gets kind of crazy. It’s a shame to tear up a lot of good race cars like that for kind of being stupid, but that’s restrictor plate racing.”

Said Elliott Sadler, “I think NASCAR and all the drivers should sit in a private room, lock the doors and have a discussion and try to fix this together. That’s what I’d like to see.”

Said Jimmie Johnson, “At the end of the day, the restrictor plate is still here because it's a good show for the fans. So at some point when the fans dislike it, I guess we'll make a change, and we won't have this stuff. But until then, we're a product of what the fans want to see.”

Judging by the response on various social media sites on Sunday, fans were none-too-pleased with Sunday’s race. The single-file action bored fans and the rule change left drivers unsure how far they could push the envelope. On top of that, two cars flipped over and the restrictor plate adjustment did little to separate the cars. Johnson suggested the only way to fix restrictor plate racing was to bring out the bulldozers and eliminate the banking.

Restrictor plate racing has always created controversy and drawn complaints from both drivers and fans. The sanctioning body has done a number of things to ensure safety for everyone, yet pack racing and big crashes remain.

Will Sunday’s controversial race change the way NASCAR looks at the future of restrictor plate racing? One can only hope so. Three cars have gone airborne this year at Talladega despite the roof flap safety feature. As Sadler said, this seems to be an issue NASCAR and the teams need to meet on and figure out before next season.

Hamlin Scores Career-High Third Win of Season At Martinsville

From the drop of the green flag on Sunday’s TUMS Fast Relief 500, it was clear the race was going to be a battle between points leader Jimmie Johnson and fellow Chasers Juan Pablo Montoya and Jeff Gordon. But in the end, it was Virginia native Denny Hamlin able to hold off Johnson on a green-white-checkered finish to score his third win of 2009 and second at the short track in his home state.

Not a major factor during the first hundred laps of Sunday’s race, Hamlin was one of the only cars to hit pit road under the fifth caution of the day on Lap 158. Taking two tires and getting off sequence with the rest of the field, Hamlin was able to get track position and take the lead for the first time on Lap 183 once the leaders came in for service. Able to get back on sequence following a long green-flag run, Hamlin went on to lead three times for 206 laps and looked to make up for his second-place finish to Johnson in the Spring.

A string of cautions at the end threatened to steal the win from Hamlin as the field bunched up for double-file restarts. Yet despite Johnson, Montoya, and Gordon surrounding him, the No. 11 Fed Ex car jumped out to an advantage and was able to hold them off on each one.

“I know all those guys are going to be aggressive and try and get a win,” Hamlin explained after climbing from his Toyota. “We just had the best car there at the end. The 48 didn’t do anything that he shouldn’t have, and made sure he protected his points lead. He gave us a little respect as well.”

It was a bittersweet moment for a man whose own title bid has already slipped away. Despite having strong cars the last two weeks, a self-inflicted wreck in Fontana and an engine issue in Charlotte resulted in two straight DNFs for the first time in his four-year career. Those poor
finishes dropped Hamlin to eleventh in the standings and out of contention for the championship.

“It’s a good bounce back,” he said. “I’ve just got to thank all the fans sticking with me on Twitter, and everyone giving me some hope that the last two weeks were in the past.”

Coming home in second place, Johnson extended his lead in the Chase to 118 over teammate Mark Martin, who finished eighth. Leading five times for a total of 164 laps, he had one of the strongest cars but just did not have enough for Hamlin at the finish despite plenty of chances.

"I just lacked a little bit of forward bite,” Johnson explained. “We had it turning, which is hard to make it do here. It was just a little too much. Denny (Hamlin) had the best car there on that last run, and maybe the two runs before that he had the best. I knew at the end of the race that No. 11 car was going to be there and was going to be strong. Congratulations to him. It was a great day for us. I wish we could have won, but second, there's nothing wrong with that.”

Having a car that was beat up in true short track fashion, Juan Pablo Montoya held off a hard-charging Jeff Gordon to score a third-place finish. Racing hard from the start, Montoya was able to work his way from his 21st-place starting spot to the top-10 by Lap 26. But that early
aggressiveness seemed to hurt his chances to win late in the race. Wearing out his brakes and battling an ill-handling car, a potential win slipped away as Hamlin and Johnson wound up deciding it amongst themselves.

“We lost our balance there a little bit there right before the long run. We got it a little bit back, but not all back,” he said in notching his fifth top 5 finish in six Chase races to date.

Meanwhile, some hard racing with Jeff Gordon around the 100-lap mark ruffled the feathers of the four-time champion, who was none too happy with the driver of the No. 42. After Montoya bumped his way past Gordon for the fourth spot, Gordon keyed his radio saying, “He has the best car I’ve seen, but he doesn’t know what to do with it.”

Running in the top-5 for much of the first 150 laps, Gordon was mired in traffic when varying pit strategies allowed a number of cars to stay out on Lap 178. Restarting 23rd, Gordon struggled to pass cars and spent the rest of the race fighting his way back to the front. Charging hard during the last two runs of the day, he made his way up to fourth late in the going, but lost a spot to Kyle Busch as the field came to the checkered flag.

“We got way behind at times, and it didn't look like we were going to make our way back to the front,” he said. “But we needed more long runs, and we finally got it -- that long run is what got us back into it. We drove all the way back up to third or fourth. Real happy. Wish we could have won it, but we'll take it.”

Coming home fourth was Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch. Although he has struggled at Martinsville (he has finishes of 38th, 29th, and 24th in his last three starts there), Busch took advantage of a late-race pit stop and two fresh tires to score his first top-5 at Martinsville since 2007.

“Tires were the name of the game,” Busch explained. “We just seemed to be on the right strategy when we could come get tires and drive back through some guys. We had a good enough car to do that with. Glad we came down there with like 15 or 18 to go, whatever it was, and put right sides (tires) on it because that probably gained us about eight spots today. Real proud of the effort.”

Jamie McMurray was sixth (his season-best performance), with Ryan Newman, Martin, Tony Stewart, and Kevin Harvick rounding out the top 10. Joey Logano was the highest-finishing rookie in 12th.

Sunday’s TUMS Fast Relief 500 saw twenty-one lead changes among twelve different drivers and was slowed fifteen times by the yellow flag. With only four races left on the year, the series heads to the high banks of Talladega next week for what many consider the "wild card" race of the Chase.


http://groups.google.com/group/thefrontstretch/browse_thread/thread/c92951120abca349

Cooperation A Foreign Concept For Montoya

When Juan Pablo Montoya made the transition from open-wheel racing to NASCAR three years ago there were a number of new concepts he was forced to learn. The adjustment from the sleek, high-tech Formula One cars to the heavier and boxier stock cars was a big hurdle to overcome, but perhaps the biggest adjustment Montoya had to learn was working with the competition.

In other forms of racing – open-wheel especially – the competition amongst the drivers and the teams is intense to say the least, both on and off the track. In Formula One, hordes of engineers and scientists have poured countless amounts of money into their programs and sharing tips and advice is rare to say the least. The NASCAR garage is a much different place. With teams working in close quarters week-in and week-out the atmosphere of the NASCAR garage is a much friendlier one.

“Yeah, it makes no sense,” Montoya explained. “There’s something great about this sport. People are really open about it. Once you’re on the race track you are by yourself. You’re on your own. Off the race track you can go to anybody and they’ll help you. That is great to see.”

After coming over from open-wheel racing, Montoya admitted he was struck by just how open other drivers are and the fact they go out of their way to help. The former Indy 500 champion’s first experience with this openness happened early in his transition to stock cars.

“The first person that did it was Kevin Harvick,” described Montoya. “We were testing in Miami for that first Cup race and there was an open test there and he came down and said you’ve got to try to do this. I didn’t even go to him, he came to me and said you’ve got to go a little deeper and do a little of this and a little of that. I was like, are you kidding me? You actually came here to help me?

“It’s crazy because in Formula One if you see somebody doing something wrong you probably actually enjoy it and don’t help them,” Montoya pointed out.

Working over the last three years to become the contender he is today, Montoya explained there is something to learn from everyone in the garage. Taping the experience of drivers such as Mark Martin, Montoya has emerged as one of the strongest threats during this year’s Chase.

“I ask Mark Martin a lot of questions and he helps me out a lot. Whatever I need and it’s very helpful,” said Montoya. “On the race track, whoever is doing something different you’ve got to see how they are doing it and how they are making it work, anybody from the front of the grid to the back of the grid.”

Coming up the ranks in a much different era, Martin has been one of the main go-to guys for advice in the NASCAR garage. During his American Speed Association (ASA) days, Martin traded set-ups and techniques with fellow competitors such as Rusty Wallace and Dick Trickle. That experience and openness has allowed the 50-year-old veteran to provide honest and sound advice – even to some of his biggest competitors.

With all of this openness and sharing going on in the NASCAR garage, where do drivers draw the line?

“When they’re beating you, you stop,” former open-wheel convert Tony Stewart said with a smile. “When they’re out-running you, you go back to them and say ‘hey, now what do I need to do?’ You don’t tell them how to do everything, but you explain to them the etiquette involved and little things that will help as the day goes on. It’s not always things that is going to help them beat you, but it’s things that are going to help them have a more enjoyable day and keep them from having problems at the race track.”

"Do I think (Juan Pablo) Montoya could beat me? Sometimes,” Martin admitted. “He's probably going to beat me whether I answer his question honestly or not. And I'd much rather be honest than dishonest. And I'm flattered that he asked me the questions. He'll figure out a way to beat me on any given day whether I answer honestly or not. So, we don't share technical race car information today like we did 15 years ago. Rusty and I always told each other what we had in our cars 15 years ago here at Martinsville. And the drivers don't do that.”

Another open-wheel convert that is trying to make his mark in NASCAR is Italian-born Max Papis. After eight years in the CART Series, two in the IndyCar Series and one year racing on the F1 circuit, Papis has spent the last four years learning the ropes of NASCAR. Despite his limited stock car knowledge, Papis has scored a top-10 in each of NASCAR’s top three divisions, something he credits partly to the help and advice he has received from those in the garage.

“When I grew up they told you if you want to beat your opposition, you have to hate your opposition,” Papis explained before Friday’s Camping World Truck Series practice. “I walk the garage a lot and I’ve felt I’ve built other friendships and there are more people that want to see me successful than people that don’t want to see me successful. This is what I need for me, to lean on people like Jimmie Johnson, that is a friend of mine for over ten years, but it’s great to know you have his full support.”

“I think a lot of the other forms of racing out there you didn’t see that a lot,” Stewart went on to say. “Here you see that more, I think it’s because the guys respect each other more here. At the same time if the guys you are racing with are out there making mistakes they put you at just as much risk, especially in a 500-lap race, at some point you’re going to be around them and if they’re doing things wrong that puts you in a bad spot.

“The thing is it’s kind of a cycle,” Stewart added. “There was somebody that helped us all when we first came in and as our careers progress and mature, we all do the same thing for the new guys coming in as it is their turn.”

There is a long checklist of things to adjust to when moving from to NASCAR after racing for years in another series, in another atmosphere. Yet, perhaps the most important is the relationship drivers have with one another. Until you are confident enough to ask for help and willing enough to listen, you’re not going to have the success you hoped to have.

http://www.allleftturns.com/nascars-friendly-garage

Newman Earns Second Pole Of 2009

On a day in which the talk center on knocking Jimmie Johnson off his ivory tower, it was ‘Rocket Man’ Ryan Newman that stole the spotlight for a day, earning his second pole of 2009, third at Martinsville and forty-fifth of his career. With a lap of 19.563 seconds at a speed of 96.795 mph, Neman bumped Jeff Gordon from the top-spot to put the No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet P1.

“It’s the place to be no doubt and it’s the place to finish, obviously it’s what we want,” Newman said after his pole run. “Tony Gibson and the guys did a great job with this car. It hasn’t actually been run since our race here in the spring. So it’s nice to get it back out, they’ve shined it up a little bit. Bottom line is it was a really good lap. It helped to go out a little later and to see Mark (Martin) and Jeff (Gordon)and see what the track had in it and to watch them and see where there might be some gains to be made. Kind of just ran my lap and it’s equally important here to charge a corner and not over charge a corner and I just got everything I could.”

Earning his eighth front row start of 2009, Jeff Gordon went out early and held the top-spot for much of the session until Newman knocked him back to second. Piloting the No. 24 Dupont/NationalGuard.com Chevrolet, Gordon posted a lap of 19.619 seconds at a speed of 96.519 mph.

Martin Truex Jr. just missed out of Gordon’s time when he drove his No. 1 Vasoline MEN Body Lotion Chevrolet around the Martinsville Speedway at a time of 19.621 seconds at a speed of 96.509 mph – just 0.002 seconds off Gordon’s lap. Sporting his Philadelphia Phillies hat, Truex was pleased with his eighth top-5 starting spot of the year.

“We had a good practice today,” Truex Jr. said despite having a miss in the engine early in the session. “We had a good productive fifty minutes or so. We worked in race trim most of the day and did one qualifying run there at the end and it wasn’t really good so we just kind of took a shot in the dark and in qualifying it worked good.”

Chase contender Mark Martin was fourth-fastest in the day’s qualifying session, followed by David Reutimann in fifth. Non-Chasers rounded out the rest of the top-10 with Casey Mears, Joey Logano, Bobby Labonte, Reed Sorenson and Kevin Harvick.

Come Sunday the twelve Chase drivers will be scattered throughout the 43-car field. Tony Stewart will roll off thirteenth, points leader Jimmie Johnson was fifteenth fastest, followed by Denny Hamlin in seventeenth and Greg Biffle in twentieth. Outside the top-20, Juan Pablo Montoya was twenty-first fastest, Brian Vickers was twenty-fourth, Kasey Kahne was twenty-sixth and Carl Edwards was twenty-ninth fastest. Kurt Busch fared the worst of the Chase drivers, posting a time only good enough for thirty-seventh.

Josh Wise was the only driver that failed to make the race. It was Wise’s first attempt at a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.

Ford To Debut FR9 Engine At Talladega

With only two wins thus far in the 2009 season, Ford Motor Company has spent much of the year playing catch-up to Chevrolet, Toyota and even Dodge. The manufacturer – who weathered the economic storm much better than General Motors and Chrysler – seemed to have been caught off guard with the lack of success, especially following a year in which they scored eleven wins and one of their drivers was runner-up in the championship hunt.

After sweeping the season’s opening two weekends, Ford has fallen behind each of its competitors. Chevrolet leads the manufacturers in the win column with seventeen, followed by Toyota with nine and Dodge with three. In fact, this has been Ford’s worst showing since 1982, when they only scored two wins in thirty races. Granted, there are still five races left in the season, but time is running out for Ford on the 2009 season.

Understanding they are slightly behind to their competitors, director of Ford North America Motorsports Brian Wolfe announced Tuesday the new FR9 engine will make its debut on the high-banks at Talladega.

“We’re excited about it,” Wolfe explained. “The one thing is when you’ve had such a rough year as we have with so few wins, it’s always easy to point to one thing. A lot of fans and supporters have said, ‘We’ve got to get that new engine out there. It’s going to be really, really important to get us to win.’ But the reality of the situation is the current engine is either tied or above all the others for both peak power and average power over the operational range. So to jump in and say, ‘We’re going to throw the new engine out there,’ when we’re really good for fuel and power could have some unintended consequences. I know it looks like we’re really, really slow-walking this, but we want to make sure we’re getting the cars most competitive as quick as we can.”

Wolfe went on to explain Talladega is a perfect place to debut the new engine because power under the hood could give a Ford driver more of an advantage over a track such as Charlotte or California. With the cars so equal and bunched together in a pack on a restrictor plate track, a bit more power under the hood could provide the extra push needed to shove another blue oval across the finish line.

“There are significant differences,” Wolfe said describing restricted engines and non-restricted engines. “The engines have a much different stress level on them because you’re making a lot less power with the restricted motor than you’re making with an open motor. So it’s not so much the differences in having it ready or not, it’s when is there a reason to really put it out there. We think the restricted tracks, there are some benefits of the new architecture there to make the performance a little bit better than it would be with the current motor.”

In introducing this new engine, Wolfe explained Ford wants to ensure their unrestricted engine is ready to be debuted and will not be rushed into use. Arguing their engine is competitive against the competitors, Wolfe pointed out they want to ensure the introduction of the new engine has no “unintended consequences” and the switch to the new motor does not cost teams more than it should.

“The thing is, like anything else, it’s not only about making sure it’s durable and it’s going to win races and there are no unintended consequences, but the other thing we can’t lose track of is that the economic times are very, very tight,” Wolfe added. “The last thing we want to do is obsolete parts that are still good and still very competitive, so that’s another factor that also goes along with that. The current engine is very, very good. All of our competitors have their new architecture out there and our current motor is running the same power and same fuel economy as they are, so a new unrestricted motor isn’t going to give us another 10, 15, 30, 40 horsepower.”

Content with their current motor, it appears Ford is willing to take its time on introducing the unrestricted FR9 into NASCAR competition. Despite their struggles on the track this year, Ford feels confident the lack of wins has not been an issue under the hood. It has yet to be announced which drivers will have the new FR9 engine next week at Talladega.

Good For Johnson, But Good For The Sport?

Winning his third of five Chase races on Saturday night, Jimmie Johnson appears to be on his way to a record-breaking fourth-straight Sprint Cup Series title. Thanks to the misfortunes of some of his closest competitors, Johnson’s lead at the halfway mark in the Chase now sits at a comfortable ninety points. With a string of tracks coming up that fall right into the hands of Johnson, the question is will anyone be able to stop another title run for the No. 48 team and is it good for the sport?

The talk circulating the media Saturday night following Johnson’s dominant weekend was how another title run for the team would hurt NASCAR. With attendance slipping and television ratings not where NASCAR would like them, is the dominance of the No. 48 actually turning fans away from the sport?

In other sports we have seen dominant performances by the New York Yankees, The Chicago Bulls, Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong and the New England Patriots, and even in NASCAR, Johnson is not the first driver in the sport’s history to go on a tear. Yet, despite his amazing success over the last four years, Johnson seems to command little respect from the fans and some of those in the media.

The legendary Junior Johnson, named one of the first five inductees in the NASCAR Hall of Fame, told media members Friday he believed the No. 48 team had a strong chance at winning their record-breaking fourth-straight Cup Series championship. However, the feeling amongst many pundits and fans is the 48 team is simply stinking up the show and hurting NASCAR in the process.

“Man, I'm just out there doing my thing. People -- I don't think we've been stinking up the show for starters,” Johnson argued. “I mean, I guess I don't understand why people would have a problem with it. Everybody tunes in to watch Tiger win. Everybody tunes in to watch Federer do his thing on certain courts. I'm just doing my thing. I think there's a lot of fans out there that are excited to see what this 48 car is doing, and a lot of people are happy and rooting for us to win a fourth. The rest of them, oh, well.”

The argument against Johnson and his success is the dominant performances put on this team are turning fans away. Television ratings seem to support this argument; Nielson Media Research reported Saturday night’s NASCAR Banking 500 earned a 3.0 overnight rating, down 14.3 % from 2008. Unable to appreciate the historical significance of his accomplishments, it seems fans would rather see more parity in the competition and a fresh face in Victory Lane every once and a while and this may be leading them to change the channel.

Team owner Rick Hendrick understands the sentiment of the fans and skeptics, but explained after Johnson’s seventeenth Chase victory, his time will come.

“There's some great drivers that have been in our sport, for sure, but you look at his record since he entered this sport, and you've got to say that he'll go down as one of the greatest drivers that's ever been in the series,” Hendrick argued. “Sometimes you don't get that recognition until later on in your career, and I think that's just normal.”

As a fan when one of Hendrick Motorsports’ other drivers – Jeff Gordon – went on a tear from 1995-1998, I can understand the points being made. During that four year span, Gordon won three titles, was runner up the other year, compiled forty victories, eighty-six top-5s and ninety-eight top-10s in 126 races. Sitting in the stands as he dominated, sure it was frustrating, but looking back on that time it is more special to know every fan that was a part of the sport at that time was witnessing something special. The same should be said for those complaining about Johnson’s dominance today.

Putting all the debate out of their minds, this team is simply focused on getting the job done each week. The 33-year-old is humble in his success both this year and in years past. Not comfortable with the lead they currently have in the standings, Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus understand that anything can happen over the next five races.

“I feel very good about racing for the championship,” Johnson explained. “If we don't have any problems, I feel that we've got a very good chance to win the championship, racing for it. But the unknowns is what we can't control. We don't want to get ourselves too emotionally wrapped up in this thing and have something come by and slap us in the face and take us out, so we're just trying to keep our guard up.”

With that determination and focus, this team will be a threat throughout the rest of the Chase – like it or not. That being said, there is still a lot of racing left to go and with tracks like Martinsville and Talladega in that mix anything can happen. This Chase is over by no means, so don’t tune out just yet. If Johnson is able to pull off another title it will be history in the making and twenty years down the road you can say, ‘I remember when…’ If someone is able to come back in this title hunt and wrangle the trophy from the hands of the 48 team it will make for an exciting and compelling end to a great season.

Mr. Perfect

He dominated practice, he dominated qualifying and at the end of the night the right team was celebrating in Victory Lane. Clearly having the best car all weekend long, Jimmie Johnson was able to give crew chief Chad Knaus the one thing he wanted his entire career – the perfect weekend.

Leading five times for a total of 92 laps, Johnson moved past his teammate Jeff Gordon with thirteen laps to go to take the top-spot. Once he cleared the No. 24, Johnson set sail towards the checkered flag.

Coming to the line to score the win, Johnson keyed the radio saying, “You have got to be kidding me!” Celebrating atop the pit box, Knaus thanked his driver telling him, “We just completed the biggest goal in my life, just so you know.”

This weekend the Lowe’s No. 48 simply owned the competition. Blisteringly fast in opening practice, record-breaking fast in qualifying, backing it up twice on Friday and proving it was no fluke Saturday, Johnson and the No. 48 team proved why they appear headed to their fourth-straight title.

Making it even more special, carrying the Lowe’s colors, Johnson and Knaus were able to score the victory in the final race at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway as the sponsor is leaving the track at the end of the year.

“It is so special to me to win here at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway in the Lowe’s car their final race here at the speedway with their sponsorship.”

In addition, Saturday night’s win marks Johnson’s sixth victory at his sponsor’s home track, tying him with Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip for the most all-time. The win also marked his third win in the last four races, enough to propel him to a 90-point lead in the series standings headed to Martinsville next week.

Even though Johnson dominated the weekend, he did not exactly dominate Saturday night’s NASCAR Banking 500. In what proved to be a very competitive race, five cars led the field for 45 laps of more. A rash of cautions late in the going stacked up the field for a number of double-file restarts, and with less than twenty laps to go Jeff Gordon popped up and looked to take the victory from his teammate.

Restarting to the outside of the No. 48, Gordon was able to hang with Johnson and pin his car to the bottom of the track. After Johnson bobbled a bit in Turn 4 Gordon took the advantage, but it did not last long. With a great run off the corner, Johnson moved under the No. 24 with thirteen laps to go.

“I knew he was going to be tough,” Johnson said of racing with Gordon on the final restart. “He got by me and I was pretty nervous. He had the outside and I needed it to clear him. The restarts before him on the bottom I was able to get by him, but he got a great restart on that last one and I really had to earn it.”

While Gordon gave Johnson trouble late in the going, it was Kasey Kahne who looked to be on cruise control to his fourth win at Lowe’s. Leading twice for sixty-seven laps, Kahne’s No. 9 Budweiser Dodge hugged the high line to open up a seven second lead at one point. A blown engine by the No. 13 of Max Papis erased that lead when oil was laid down on the backstretch.

Hitting pit road for the final time of the day, Kahne’s pit crew got him away with a good stop, but Johnson’s crew did as well. As the No. 48 team dropped the jack and Johnson sped away he crossed the timing line ahead of Kahne by a matter of inches.

On all but the final restart, Johnson was able to power past Kahne and hold on to the top-spot.
“I thought the 9 had this thing in the bag,” Johnson said in Victory Lane. “Then from the last pit stop on when it came to the restarts we had what we needed for five or six quick laps. This baby was fast, it worked.”

“I’ve always had a problem when I start off the front row this whole year with restarts,” Kahne pointed out. “I just spin my tires. I try not to give it throttle to spin my tires and I get pushed from behind.”

Passed by Matt Kenseth with just four laps to go, Kahne was forced to settle with a third-place finish.

“The tires we took on the last stop shook and didn’t turn,” Kahne explained. “I guess that was our bad set for the night. It’s disappointing. We had the car to beat and the guy who beats everyone beat us tonight. Our car was good as anything here. We just didn’t get it done at the end.”

Scoring his second top-5 in the last four races, Matt Kenseth came on late to come home in the runner-up spot. The No. 17 Carhartt Ford paced the field four times for a total of forty-five laps. Struggling for much of the 2009 season, Saturday night’s performance has the No. 17 team looking up.

“It’s been getting better,” Kenseth said. “I thought tonight we had a really solid night on the race track and on pit road. All of these Carhartt guys did a good job for me. We made good adjustments and it seems like maybe we’re starting to understand what’s going on a little bit more at these mile-and-a-halfs and had really good track position all night, so it was a great night for us.”

A number of Chase drivers had rough outings on Saturday night including Mark Martin and Juan Pablo Montoya who entered the day second and third in the standings. Coming to the restart on Lap 124, the field stacked up behind Jeff Gordon. Montoya checked up to keep from getting in the back of Clint Bowyer, but Martin was not able to get slowed down in time and drove into the back of the No. 42, tearing off the right rear of Montoya’s car. Martin suffered slight damage and was able to limp home 17th, however Montoya struggled to finish 35th, four laps down.


"Well they all kind of went and then they checked up and I checked up and I don't know somebody didn't slow down and just ripped of the whole rear of the car,” a frustrated Montoya said after climbing from his car. “Then I got hit into the car in front of us. I don't know, just one of those deals. It was weird, actually a lot of things on the race track you could see and the cautions never came out. I think they got criticized last week and I think they went too far this week. It is what it is. Whether you like it or not they are in charge.”

For the second week in a row Denny Hamlin went from contending for the win to sitting in the garage before the end of the race. Leading four times for fifty-four laps, Hamlin was one of the strongest cars of the night however a broken valve ended the No. 11 team’s night and essentially their hopes at the title.

“It’s just a tough night for everyone at FedEx. We’ve just had a rough couple weeks, you know. The driver made a mistake last week and it cost us and this week, just a parts failure. It’s the best I’ve ever ran at this race track. Had a shot to win it, felt like. I was being so patient behind those guys, not trying to push it and not show everything I had until the very end,” a dejected Hamlin said from the garage. “We’re definitely done as far as the championship is concerned.

Carl Edwards also suffered an engine failure and dropped two spots to tenth, also out of contention for the title.

Next week the series heads to the short-track in Martinsville, Virginia for the sixth race of the Chase. Unfortunately for the competition, Jimmie Johnson has six wins and shows no signs of letting up.


Photo Credit
- Jimmie Johnson passes teammate Jeff Gordon on the inside late in the race. (Photo Credit: Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR)

- The top-four battle for the win at Lowe's Motor Speedway. (Photo Credit: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

The Most Important Relationship In Racing

When it comes to being successful in NASCAR and competing for the Sprint Cup title, you need to be better than the rest. Your average finish needs to be better, your consistency needs to be better and overall your team needs to be better. One of the most crucial parts of that winning combination needs to be the relationship between the man behind the wheel and the guy calling the shots atop the pit box.


While the race can be won on or lost on pit road, the real difference maker seems to be the communication between the driver and crew chief. When things are good they are good, but how that combination reacts when things are not going well is the difference between leading the standings and fighting for also-ran.

Over the last three years Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus have set the bar – and man is it high. One of the most calculated and hard-working men in the sport, Knaus has changed the game in NASCAR’s top-division and the working relationship he has with his driver Jimmie Johnson has rarely waivered.

“Over the years there definitely have been ups and downs,” Johnson argued. “In 2005 was the toughest period in time for us. Chasing Tony (Stewart) for the championship I came up short and was frustrated and we had a talk with Mr. Hendrick and went through some things. There are ups and downs and that's what I feel makes our relationship stronger. It's not always perfect and great. He speaks his mind and I speak mine. We fight and do all the things that go with it. But we don't cross certain lines and there is a great deal of respect that we have for one another And I know at the end of the day, he's doing everything he can and he knows I'm doing everything I can and some days you get beat. Some days you don't have it. We've worked through it enough over the years to have a good understanding of each other and have found a way to work together."

Despite miscalculations by Knaus on two occasions this year – when his gamble on fuel came up short in both Michigan events – Johnson and the rest of the team refused to give in. Neither pointed the blame and each looked at the situation as something that comes with the job. It’s this type of interaction that has led to three consecutive championships.

Johnson’s teammate Jeff Gordon knows what is like to work with the best of the best. The veteran driver made his mark in the sport with the man Knaus learned the ropes from, Ray Evernham. Together until 1999, the combination was the best in the business – the Jimmie and Chad of their time, if you will. Since Evernham departed the No. 24 pit box, Gordon has had only three crew chiefs; Brian Whitesell (who finished out the rest of the 1999 season and led the team to two wins), Robbie Loomis and current pit boss Steve Letarte.

Since taking over atop the pit box in September of 2005, the Gordon-Letarte combination has led to ten victories; their first coming just five races after Letarte took command of the team. When they began to struggle in 2008, producing no victories for the first time in Gordon’s career since his rookie season, Letarte caught the brunt of the criticism. Through it all, Gordon stuck by his crew chief and refused to let Letarte be the scapegoat.

“I think sometimes those relationships can happen immediately,” Gordon pointed out. “Sometimes they take years. You have to understand that Steve has been on our team a long time. The reason why I believe he is my crew chief right now is because he and I clicked when he was car chief. Even when he was doing tires for us years and years ago. I liked his attitude. I liked his energy level. I liked his personality. I felt like he and I meshed very well. When he became the car chief, I realized how smart he was and how capable he was far beyond what a car chief but even more so. He has only impressed me even more as a crew chief.”


This year the combination has once again found the magic and have proved to be a threat. Scoring a win at Texas Motor Speedway, the No. 24 team led the series standings twice for a total of nine weeks. Currently sitting fifth in the Chase, this team appears as strong as ever and shows no signs of giving in to teammates Jimmie and Chad.

Much like Gordon and Letarte, Carl Edwards and crew chief Bob Osborne have been together for quite some time. Entering their fifth year together (the pair was briefly separated in 2006, but reunited in 2007), the combination has produced sixteen wins – including an amazing nine last year. However, this season has not gone according to plan. Although they made the Chase, the team is still winless with only six races left in the year. Edwards has been left scratching his head, but one thing is sure, he does not question Osborne’s ability as a crew chief.

“What’s going on right now, for instance Bob and I, we won all these races last year, we did great and everything was wonderful. It seemed like we could win every week. He’s the same guy. I’m the same driver,” Edwards explained. “I feel like we’re even better than we were, our capabilities. I don’t think changing personnel at this level is what we need to do, and I don’t think Jack (Roush) feels that way. We just have to figure out mechanically what is different about our race car and the cars that are beating us, and that’s where it comes in. That’s where the problem-solving needs to be done. I don’t know about other teams, but I know for the 99 team, Bob Osborne is my crew chief. I would give up almost anything before I’d give up Bob Osborne.”


One driver that does not have that luxury is Penske Racing’s Kurt Busch. A contender in this year's Chase, Busch is now racing with a lame-duck crew chief in the final ten races. Pat Tryson announced in Richmond, just prior to the beginning of the Chase, that he would be leaving the team at the end of the year. After learning Tryson would be heading to Michael Waltrip Racing, Penske barred him from the shop except to take part in post-race debriefs on Tuesdays. Upset with his crew chief’s decision, Busch has voiced his displeasure in the media and over the radio during a number of races.

“Since Pat made the decision to leave our program, I’ve been a bit more sarcastic with him and a bit shorter with him just to kind of rub it in that he is leaving and this was a good thing that we had going on,” Busch said Thursday at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway. “Sometimes sarcasm over the radio can be spun 180 degrees…that it’s negative…and that it’s not the proper thing to be saying. But other than that, we’re business as usual. We’re jousting with each other, joking around here and there. It’s a fun situation right now because we feel like this is our best opportunity to win this championship and we better take advantage of this now because in six weeks we won’t be working together.”

“It hasn’t been all that bad,” Tryson said of his situation. Despite his restrictions at the shop, Tryson went on to explain he has been able to communicate with team members through email and phone calls and is still hungry to win this year.

“Nothing has changed over the last four (races) that wasn’t happening before," Tryson went on to say. "He just wants to win. There are times when he has made a few more sarcastic remarks, but I know what he is doing and it is all good.”

As Jeff Gordon put it Thursday in the media center, when one person is excited on the radio, the other needs to be the calming voice. With Busch and Tryson say everything is good they are continually at each other, with Busch admittedly using sarcasm over the radio. The level of production is hurt and the team’s performance will suffer. Compare the tattered relationship of Busch and Tryson to that of veteran Mark Martin and his crew chief Alan Gustafson.

In his first full season since 2006, Martin has turned some heads to say the least. With five wins – his most since 1998 – the 50-year-old veteran has a renewed spirit and hunger that has led him to become one of the top contenders for this year’s title. What has fueled Martin’s strong performance this year? Is it his twenty-seven years of experience? When you ask the Batesville, Arkansas-native his answer is simple – crew chief Alan Gustafson.

Now in his tenth year with Hendrick Motorsports, Gustafson has worked on the No. 5 car since 2000. His tenacity and diligent work ethic allowed him to move to the crew chief position in 2005. Calling the shots for drivers such as Terry Labonte and Kyle Busch, Gustafson has hit his stride with Martin this year and the combination’s success has shown on the track.

“What Alan and I have going on is really special and the communication and mutual respect and the way it is working,” Martin said Thursday at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. “A thing I think that everybody should take note of is that one of the things I’m most proud of about Alan is I bet you he probably might be a little bit intimidated by me but it never shows and that’s big. That’s helped me as much as anything he could do is to not let me intimidate him and prevent him from doing his very best job for me. Not that I try to, I have been around a long time and a lot of times have gotten into situations where the crew chief gave in to what I thought or what I said too quick and I’m certainly not always right. We’re getting it right together and that was my point. We are able to get it right so much we hope to keep doing it.”

Over the years Martin has worked with a number of crew chiefs, yet has never meshed with one quite as well as he has with Gustafson this year. Learning from his past mistakes, Martin understands how important his relationship with the man atop the pit box is to having success on the race track.

“I know over a period of time I have beat down some crew chiefs in the past and I realized that and when you get to that point you can’t fix it. That damage is done, so from that experience I’ve learned too. I’ve learned how to handle things and my frustration, I am still conscious that will hurt me and I know that no matter how much those guys, when you kick them and you kick them again, I don’t care, I’m telling you it affects them.”

Former Mark Martin crew chief Steve Hmiel explained the job of the crew chief has evolved so much of the last few years as a result of engineers behind the scenes, simulations at the shop and various other technologies. Hmiel, as well as Tryson, pointed out the crew chief used to have more hands on involvement, but now the role has turned to more of a motivating coach.

“The crew chief needs to get in the drivers head,” Hmiel explained. “The driver needs to have confidence in the crew chief and has to feel comfortable with the changes being made.”

The ability of the driver and crew chief to communicate well and have confidence in one another has become one of the most crucial parts of having a successful season. Those atop the standings understand that and the relationships they have built have led to those results. For any team that wants to contend for a title and make their mark on the sport, this relationship needs to be atop their priorities and once that happens, things should fall into place.

NASCAR Banking 500 Final Practice

1. 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's Chevrolet 29.114 185.478
2. 5 Mark Martin Pop-Tarts / CARQUEST Chevrolet 29.213 184.849
3. 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Office Toyota 29.239 184.685
4. 7 Robby Gordon Freightliner Toyota 29.310 184.237
5. 18 Kyle Busch M&M's/SusanGKomen Fndtn Toyota 29.352 183.974
6. 39 Ryan Newman U.S. Army/Trnsfrmrs 2 Chev 29.391 183.730
7. 47 Marcos Ambrose CloroxKingsfordBush'sBkdBns Tyta 29.402 183.661
8. 9 Kasey Kahne Budweiser Dodge 29.410 183.611
9. 98 Paul Menard Johns Manville/Menards Ford 29.420 183.549
10. 17 Matt Kenseth Carhartt Ford 29.423 183.530
11. 25 Brad Keselowski GoDaddy.com Chevrolet 29.438 183.436
12. 14 Tony Stewart Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet 29.453 183.343
13. 71 Mike Bliss TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet 29.460 183.299
14. 24 Jeff Gordon Dupont/Trnsfrmrs 2 Chev 29.486 183.138
15. 31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar Chevrolet 29.498 183.063
16. 16 Greg Biffle 3M / IDG Ford 29.501 183.045
17. 20 Joey Logano # The Home Depot Toyota 29.506 183.014
18. 29 Kevin Harvick Shell / Pennzoil Chevrolet 29.518 182.939
19. 00 David Reutimann Aaron's Dream Machine Tyta 29.519 182.933
20. 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Mobil 1 Dodge 29.533 182.846
21. 1 Martin Truex Jr. Guitar Hero / DJ Hero Chevrolet 29.536 182.828
22. 33 Clint Bowyer Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chev 29.541 182.797
23. 6 David Ragan UPS Ford 29.554 182.716
24. 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota 29.555 182.710
25. 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Lysol Chevrolet 29.587 182.513
26. 02 David Gilliland Farm Bureau Toyota 29.587 182.513
27. 44 A J Allmendinger Best Buy Dodge 29.590 182.494
28. 43 Reed Sorenson Super 8 Motels Dodge 29.590 182.494
29. 26 Jamie McMurray JeremiahWeedSthrnStyleSwtTea Ford 29.591 182.488
30. 07 Casey Mears Jack Daniel's Chevrolet 29.594 182.469
31. 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. AMP Energy/NationalGuard Chev 29.602 182.420
32. 99 Carl Edwards Aflac Ford 29.603 182.414
33. 12 David Stremme No. 12 Penske Dodge 29.620 182.309
34. 82 Scott Speed # Red Bull Toyota 29.624 182.285
35. 19 Elliott Sadler Stanley Dodge 29.668 182.014
36. 2 Kurt Busch Miller Lite Dodge 29.670 182.002
37. 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 29.700 181.818
38. 96 Bobby Labonte Ask.com/Search for the Cure Ford 29.703 181.800
39. 55 Michael Waltrip NAPA/SusanG.KomenFdtn Toyota 29.762 181.439
40. 21 Bill Elliott Warriors in Pink Powered by Ford 29.850 180.905
41. 34 John Andretti Taco Bell Chevrolet 29.937 180.379
42. 13 Max Papis # GEICO Toyota 30.032 179.808
43. 08 Terry Labonte Carter/Simo Racing Toyota 30.097 179.420 27

Johnson Looking To Stink Up The Weekend

The feeling after Jimmie Johnson's victory last week at the Auto Club Speedway was that some were too quick to give the championship title to the three-time defending champ. Sure, Mark Martin is only twelve points back and Juan Pablo Montoya is hot on their heels, but this weekend at Lowe's Motor Speedway Johnson has done his best to prove it is once again his year.

Once the rain showers cleared Thursday evening and the track was dry, the No. 48 rocketed to the top of the speed charts in the opening practice session with a lap at the average speed of 192.486 mph. Clearly excited over the radio after the lap, Johnson backed up his performance later that night in Coors Light Qualifying. Setting a new record for the fastest qualifying lap ever laid down in the new car, Johnson and his No. 48 took earned the pole position.

Surely he couldn't keep up the pace on Friday could he? Well, of course he did.

In the day's first session, Johnson once again bettered his teammate Mark Martin to claim the top-spot. Think things would change in the hour-long final practice? Nope.

Running a total of 48 laps, Johnson took his familiar place atop the leaderboard. With a fast-lap of 185.478 mph, Johnson has made a clean sweep of the weekend's Sprint Cup Series events thus far. The only thing left is Saturday night's NASCAR Banking 500.

"We've got 500 miles to run," the five time Lowe's Motor Speedway winner explained after qualifying. "So I think if we can lead a lot of laps, win the race, and something along those lines will send a statement."

After Saturday's practice sessions I think it's time the competition started getting the message.

NASCAR Banking 500 Practice 2 -- 10/16/09

1. 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's Chevrolet 28.852 187.162
2. 5 Mark Martin Pop-Tarts / CARQUEST Chevrolet 29.065 185.790
3. 16 Greg Biffle 3M / IDG Ford 29.151 185.242
4. 17 Matt Kenseth Carhartt Ford 29.220 184.805
5. 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Office Toyota 29.223 184.786
6. 39 Ryan Newman U.S. Army/Trnsfrmrs 2 Chev 29.251 184.609
7. 99 Carl Edwards Aflac Ford 29.290 184.363
8. 18 Kyle Busch M&M's / SusanGKomen Fndtn Toyota 29.315 184.206
9. 47 Marcos Ambrose CloroxKngsfrdBushsBkdBeans Toyota 29.331 184.106
10. 9 Kasey Kahne Budweiser Dodge 29.331 184.106
11. 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Lysol Chevrolet 29.338 184.062
12. 20 Joey Logano # The Home Depot Toyota 29.338 184.062
13. 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota 29.338 184.062
14. 14 Tony Stewart Old Spice / Office Depot Chevrolet 29.359 183.930
15. 2 Kurt Busch Miller Lite Dodge 29.390 183.736
16. 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. AMPEnergy/NtlGuard Chevrolet 29.398 183.686
17. 31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar Chevrolet 29.422 183.536
18. 7 Robby Gordon Freightliner Toyota 29.476 183.200
19. 24 Jeff Gordon Dupont / Trnsfrmrs 2 Chev 29.499 183.057
20. 00 David Reutimann Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota 29.511 182.983
21. 29 Kevin Harvick Shell / Pennzoil Chevrolet 29.512 182.976
22. 26 Jamie McMurray JeremiahWeedSthrnStyleSweetTea Ford 29.531 182.859
23. 33 Clint Bowyer Cheerios / Hamburger Helper Chevrolet 29.536 182.828
24. 25 Brad Keselowski GoDaddy.com Chevrolet 29.589 182.500
25. 82 Scott Speed # Red Bull Toyota 29.596 182.457
26. 1 Martin Truex Jr. Guitar Hero / DJ Hero Chevrolet 29.599 182.439
27. 44 A J Allmendinger Best Buy Dodge 29.609 182.377
28. 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Mobil 1 Dodge 29.623 182.291
29. 98 Paul Menard Johns Manville / Menards Ford 29.653 182.106
30. 02 David Gilliland Farm Bureau Toyota 29.676 181.965
31. 12 David Stremme No. 12 Penske Dodge 29.697 181.837
32. 55 Michael Waltrip NAPA/SusanG.KomenFndtn Toyota 29.703 181.800
33. 71 Mike Bliss TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet 29.728 181.647
34. 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 29.778 181.342
35. 96 Bobby Labonte Ask.com / Search for the Cure Ford 29.792 181.257
36. 07 Casey Mears Jack Daniel's Chevrolet 29.795 181.238
37. 6 David Ragan UPS Ford 29.804 181.184
38. 43 Reed Sorenson Super 8 Motels Dodge 29.849 180.911
39. 19 Elliott Sadler Stanley Dodge 29.851 180.898
40. 34 John Andretti Taco Bell Chevrolet 29.866 180.808
41. 21 Bill Elliott Warriors in Pink Powered by Ford 29.890 180.662
42. 08 Terry Labonte Carter/Simo Racing Toyota 30.083 179.503
43. 13 Max Papis # GEICO Toyota 30.086 179.485

Thoughts From A Rainy Day In Charlotte

With rain blanketing the area for much of Thursday, the main action at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway took place in the Time Warner Cable Media Center. With some of the sport’s biggest names taking questions from the room full of media, a few things stood out while others were just plain strange.

Jeff Burton on making his 850th career NASCAR start on Friday:

“I have always wanted to do this since I was five, six seven years-old. I look forward to being able to do it with really great people. It is a lot of fun. I still enjoy doing it. I love doing it for that matter. Every driver says that their goal is to do it for a long time. I have been real fortunate to get to do what I love to do. I am just real fortunate.”

Getting beat by Hendrick equipment kind of irks Jeff Gordon:

“We pride ourselves on being the best out there and winning and continuing that tradition, not only for our No. 24 team but also Hendrick Motorsports. It’s a great problem to have that you’re the best organization out there providing the best equipment and resources and people and that’s exactly what you’re up against each and every weekend. It’s been the philosophy of Rick’s since I first came to Hendrick that you hope that you’re battling against your teammate.

“And so we kind of know that going into it and while at times it’s tough, it’s very competitive, and it can be frustrating as well, when you get beat it’s just because of the way that competition is driving one another.”

Ryan Newman is hungry for a win…really hungry:

“We haven’t achieved all of our goals. We haven’t won that race. So yes, there is a huge desire to win that first race. I’m as hungry as an Ethiopian; they still aren’t getting fed are they?”

Carl Edwards is having a baby...well make that his wife Kate:

"I'm real excited," Edwards told the media Thursday. "Kate is pregnant and we're having a little girl and I'm really, really excited about it. It's crazy. You guys that have kids know this, but we went in there for the ultra-sound, the first one, and I had seen all the pictures of what the baby was supposed to look like and we were sitting there and all of a sudden she started moving and I almost passed out. It was just wild. We're due in the middle of February, so it's perfect timing. We'll call her Daytona," Edwards said to a room full of laughter.

Jeff Burton and Jeff Gordon want to trick-or-treat in the infield of Talladega on Halloween:

“I think the coolest thing about Talladega is going to be Halloween,” Burton said. “I think Saturday night is going to be a pretty good time myself. I’m thinking about dressing up and nobody will know who I am.”

“I would just like to have a disguise that nobody could recognize me so I could go out in the infield to check out all the fun that is going to be happening out there on Halloween. Whatever costume that is, I don’t know. But I don’t want to give it away here.”

Greg Biffle still upset at Joey Logano, not so much his dad:

After last week’s on-track incident with Joey Logano in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, Greg Biffle explained the young driver did not take to their discussion afterwards as Biffle would have hoped.

“That’s pretty disappointing because I got talked to by Sterling Marlin and a few other guys and I learned a lot from it because there were things I was probably doing on the race track being a younger guy and not realizing probably what I was doing.”

Biffle went on to say while he had not yet received an apology, he felt the incident with Tom Logano - Joey’s father – was blown out of context.

“No, he hasn’t (apologized) and I have to say that it really got taken out of context,” Biffle admitted Thursday. “Him losing his hardcard and that whole thing was maybe a little overbearing because he was jogging down pit road heading for Victory Lane, which was right behind us where we were all coming in to stop and get the restrictor plate off the car. There was a two or three-car length gap between me and the guy in front of me and he kind of swerved out into the lane and gave me the sign that I was number one, and kind of veered back over and continued on down to Victory Lane. That was it. I waived to him as he went by. I wasn’t gonna do that (give the same number one sign) because I didn’t want to get fined or anything like that, so I just waved out the window and went off. That’s all he did.”

Waiting around for qualifying was worth it:

Halfway through the day I would have bet the house there would be no on-track action at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Rain had lingered at the speedway for much of the day and it appeared I would be able to catch the 8:07 pm E.T. start of the Phillies-Dodgers game. However, NASCAR – never one to give up – continued the track drying efforts and were able to fit in an abbreviated Cup Series practice session, full Nationwide Series practice session and Cup qualifying – and let me say, I’m glad I stuck around.

With track conditions about as perfect as one could hope for, Jimmie Johnson laid down one of the quickest laps in recent history – and that was before qualifying. During the abbreviated practice session, Johnson pulled his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet out on the track and laid down a lap of 192. 486 mph – enough to get even Chad Knaus excited. By the time qualifying rolled around the track had rubbered up and gained a lot of grip.

Once he rolled out Johnson laid down a lap, while not as quick as his practice speed, still good enough to break the record for the fastest qualifying lap run in the new car. Johnson’s blisteringly fast lap time earned him his third pole at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and 22nd pole of his career.

Fact: Mark Martin will not admit championship hopes until after Talladega:

Despite the fact most Chase contenders feel he is one of the only guys capable of giving Jimmie Johnson a run for his money, Mark Martin is not quite ready to talk about the championship just yet. Citing his previous disappointments, the 50-year-old veteran admitted once the series has moved past Talladega, then he’ll start to consider the points situation.

“I'll see you after the race at Talladega and after the race at Talladega, we'll talk about our championship,” Martin said after qualifying Thursday. “I think everybody will know then who the real contenders are and a lot of things can change between now and then. If you'll look back, you will find that I led the points back in '90 from May, Phoenix was the next to the last race and then Atlanta was the last race, and I led the points from May until Phoenix. I really thought I was going to win. That ain't going to happen to me again. I am never going to think I'm going to win and it not happen. So, we'll race and we will let the racing decide the points tally. I'm not going to think about it and I don't have to. I won't change that points tally, so I refuse to look at it. I'm not going to look at it. I'm not going to be thinking about all that. I'm going to think about trying to win this race and then try to win Martinsville.”

While Thursday might not have been the most exciting or compelling day I have ever spent at a race track, it was definitely not without its moments. Some entertaining, some insightful and some down-right informative, Thursday went to show that even if the action on-track is slowed by rain, the action off the track is never dull.

NASCAR Banking 500 Qualifying Results

1. 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's Chevrolet 28.070 192.376
2. 5 Mark Martin Pop-Tarts / CARQUEST Chevrolet 28.152 191.816
3. 9 Kasey Kahne Budweiser Dodge 28.264 191.056
4. 17 Matt Kenseth Carhartt Ford 28.339 190.550
5. 14 Tony Stewart Old Spice / Office Depot Chevrolet 28.351 190.469
6. 39 Ryan Newman U.S. Army/Trnsfrmrs 2 Rvnge of the Fallen Chevrolet 28.359 190.416
7. 71 Mike Bliss TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet 28.360 190.409
8. 25 Brad Keselowski GoDaddy.com Chevrolet 28.367 190.362
9. 24 Jeff Gordon Dupont / Transformers 2 Revenge of the Fallen Chevrolet 28.384 190.248
10. 18 Kyle Busch M&M's / Susan G. Komen Foundation Toyota 28.384 190.248
11. 33 Clint Bowyer Cheerios / Hamburger Helper Chevrolet 28.388 190.221
12. 20 Joey Logano # The Home Depot Toyota 28.417 190.027
13. 47 Marcos Ambrose Clorox / Kingsford / Bush's Baked Beans Toyota 28.424 189.980
14. 02 David Gilliland Farm Bureau Toyota 28.462 189.727
15. 2 Kurt Busch Miller Lite Dodge 28.470 189.673
16. 82 Scott Speed # Red Bull Toyota 28.480 189.607
17. 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Office Toyota 28.486 189.567
18. 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Lysol Chevrolet 28.501 189.467
19. 7 Robby Gordon Freightliner Toyota 28.539 189.215
20. 26 Jamie McMurray No. 26 Jeremiah Weed Southern Style Sweet Tea Ford 28.546 189.168 21. 00 David Reutimann Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota 28.552 189.129
22. 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Mobil 1 Dodge 28.557 189.095
23. 16 Greg Biffle 3M / IDG Ford 28.584 188.917
24. 96 Bobby Labonte Ask.com / Search for the Cure Ford 28.611 188.739
25. 1 Martin Truex Jr. Guitar Hero / DJ Hero Chevrolet 28.620 188.679
26. 44 A J Allmendinger Best Buy Dodge 28.625 188.646
27. 12 David Stremme No. 12 Penske Dodge 28.636 188.574
28. 99 Carl Edwards Aflac Ford 28.639 188.554
29. 6 David Ragan UPS Ford 28.649 188.488
30. 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota 28.692 188.206
31. 98 Paul Menard Johns Manville / Menards Ford 28.696 188.180
32. 29 Kevin Harvick Shell / Pennzoil Chevrolet 28.719 188.029
33. 55 Michael Waltrip NAPA/Susan G. Komen Foundation Toyota 28.726 187.983
34. 31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar Chevrolet 28.741 187.885
35. 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 28.757 187.780
36. 21 Bill Elliott Warriors in Pink Powered by Ford 28.774 187.669
37. 43 Reed Sorenson Super 8 Motels Dodge 28.795 187.533
38. 19 Elliott Sadler Stanley Dodge 28.819 187.376
39. 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. AMP Energy / National Guard Chevrolet 28.859 187.117
40. 13 Max Papis # GEICO Toyota 28.893 186.896
41. 36 Michael McDowell Wave Energy Drink Toyota 28.900 186.851 DNQ
42. 09 Sterling Marlin Miccosukee Indian Gaming & Resort Dodge 28.950 186.528 DNQ
43. 66 Dave Blaney The Denny Hamlin Foundation Toyota 28.965 186.432 DNQ
44. 34 John Andretti Taco Bell Chevrolet 29.078 185.707 DNQ
45. 08 Terry Labonte Carter/Simo Racing Toyota 29.081 185.688
46. 37 Travis Kvapil Long John Silver's Dodge 29.165 185.153 DNQ
47. 07 Casey Mears Jack Daniel's Chevrolet 29.225 184.773

Johnson Blows Them Away In Qualifying

It took all day to get in but once the rain-delayed qualifying session got under way, Jimmie Johnson showed he’s going to be the man to beat again this weekend. The Chase leader posted the fastest time in the evening’s only practice session with a blistering lap of 192.486 mph. Rolling off twelfth for his qualifying run, Johnson put the hammer down and blew the competition away.

Laying down a lap of 28.070 seconds at a blistering speed of 192.376 mph, Johnson posted not only the fastest time of the session, but the fastest qualifying lap ever run in the new car. The previous record for the fastest qualifying time was set by Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Texas Motor Speedway in 2008 at a speed of 190.907 mph. Johnson’s lap was nearly a one-and-a half miles per hour faster.

“What a lap,” Johnson humbly said after his record-setting lap. “The speeds that we're running around here in the COT car are pretty amazing. It was just a great lap. We were great off the truck and were able to fine-tune a little bit and lay down another good one in qualifying.

“Man, its fast. You're not out of the gas long,” Johnson went on to say. “At the end of the straightway it doesn't seem that fast because you're going so fast through the turn that the novelty has worn off once you get on the straightaway and you can catch your breath and okay, here comes that corner again and you bomb it in there and blast another lap. Whatever is going on with the tire combination right now and the track, there is a ton of grip. These cars are putting up some fast laps."

Teammate Mark Martin gave Johnson his only scare of the session with a lap of 28.152 at 191.816 mph. Martin’s lap also broke Earnhardt’s previous mark in the new car. The second-place qualifying run gave Martin his tenth front row start of the season.

"I'm just so thankful,” Martin said with his usual smile. “I feel like I'm one of the luckiest guys around to get a chance to drive Alan Gustafson's car and work with these guys. Man, they put some great stuff under me. It was so much fun to drive that car today, even though I only ran four laps. They were four great laps. I knew I needed to step up my game from practice and I did but it wasn't enough. I wanted to make sure I made it back, so at least I made it back.”

Also breaking the previous fastest-qualifying mark in a CoT was third-place qualifier Kasey Kahne. At one of his best tracks, Kahne is looking for his fourth win at the 1.5-mile Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Only tenth-fastest in the earlier practice session, Kahne was able to pick up over one mile an hour to earn his sixth top-5 qualifying run.

“It was a really good lap for our Budweiser Dodge,” Kahne said after his run. “We ran right about where we were in practice earlier today. I think that I gave up a little on entry in Turn 3 and that's probably where I lost time to Jimmie (Johnson). There's a lot of grip out there. It's really fast. It's really good right now. It was a good qualifying lap for us. I wish that I had another lap.”

Roush Fenway Racing’s Matt Kenseth and Chase contender Tony Stewart rounded out the top-5. Ryan Newman, Mike Bliss, Brad Keselowski, Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch made up the rest of the top-10. Other Chase drivers outside the top-10 included Kurt Busch in 15th, Denny Hamlin and Juan Pablo Montoya in 17th and 18th respectively, Greg Biffle in 23rd, Carl Edwards in 28th and Brian Vickers in 30th.

Michael McDowell, Sterling Marlin, Dave Blaney and Travis Kvapil failed to make the race.

Chase Update - Lowe's Motor Speedway

Chase for the Sprint Cup
1. 48 (--)
2. 5 (-12)
3. 42 (-58)
4. 14 (-84)
5. 24 (-105)
6. 2 (-121)
7. 16 (-188)
8. 99 (-192)
9. 11 (-219)
10. 39 (-223)
11. 9 (-306)
12. 83 (-351)


Jimmie Johnson:
- 5 wins, 8 top-5s and 12 top-10s at Lowe's Motor Speedway
- Johnson has only one top-5 and two top-10s in last five races at Lowe's Motor Speedway
- Last win at Lowe's was in 2005
- Coming off a strong win at the Auto Club Speedway last week
- 2 wins, 3 top-5s and 4 top-10s in four Chase races

Mark Martin:
- 4 wins, 17 top-5s and 22 top-10s at Lowe's Motor Speedway
- Only one top-5 in last five races at Lowe's
- Last win at Lowe's was in 2002
- 1 win, 3 top-5s and 4 top-10s in four Chase races

Juan Pablo Montoya:
- Only one top-10 at Lowe's Motor Speedway
- In last five races at Lowe's, Juan Pablo Montoya has four finishes outside the top-25
- Finished 8th in May at Lowe's
- 4 top-5s in four Chase races

Tony Stewart:
- 1 win, 6 top-5s and 11 top-10s at Lowe's Motor Speedway
- Stewart has finished outside top-10 in last three races at Lowe's
- 1 win, 2 top-5s and 3 top-10s in four Chase races (finished 14th in Loudon)

Jeff Gordon:
- 5 wins, 15 top-5s and 18 top-10s at Lowe's Motor Speedway
- 1 win, 2 top-5s and 3 top-10s in last four races at Lowe's
- Gordon has back-to-back runner up finishes in last two Chase races
- 2 top-5s and 2 top-10s in four Chase races (finished 15th in Loudon)

Kurt Busch:
- 3 top-5s and 3 top-10s at Lowe's Motor Speedway
- Busch has only one top-5 at Lowe's since 2006
- Finished 34th at Lowe's in May earlier this year
- 1 top-5, 3 top-10s in four Chase races

Greg Biffle:
- 2 top-5s and 5 top-10s at Lowe's Motor Speedway
- 1 top-5 and 2 top-10s in last five races at Lowe's
- Biffle finished 20th in Fontana and has 1 top-5 and 2 top-10s in the four Chase races

Carl Edwards:
- 4 top-5s and 7 top-10s at Lowe's Motor Speedway
- Edwards finished 4th in May at Lowe's and has 2 top-5s and 3 top-10s in the last 5 races at Lowe's
- His last top-5 was eight races ago in Michigan
- Only 2 top-10s in four Chase races

Denny Hamlin:
- 3 top-10s at Lowe's Motor Speedway
- Hamlin has finished outside the top-10 in last four races at Lowe's
- 2 top-5s in four Chase races, but has a 22nd at Dover and 37th in Fontana
- Hamlin could have had a good day last weekend, but wrecked himself while leading

Ryan Newman:
- 4 top-5s and 6 top-10s at Lowe's Motor Speedway
- Newman finished 2nd at Lowe's in May after starting from the pole
- 2 top-10s in four Chase races, but has finished 22nd and 15th in last two events.

Kasey Kahne:
- 3 wins, 4 top-5s and 6 top-10s at Lowe's Motor Speedway
- 1 win, 2 top-5s and 4 top-10s in last four races at Lowe's
- 2 top-5s in Chase, but 38th in Loudon and 34th last week in Fontana
- Kahne blamed NASCAR last week for throwing a caution for excitement, not debris

Brian Vickers:
- 2 top-5s and 3 top-10s at Lowe's Motor Speedway
- Vickers is always a strong contender at Lowe's and finished 5th in May
- The team has had a dismal Chase this year with no top-10 finishes and one DNF
- Vickers told media in Charlotte Thursday, "Man, this Chase has not started off well. I think we used up all our mojo getting into the Chase."